A fire near Lake Pillsbury in the Mendocino National Forest has charred 3,000 acres and triggered evacuation warnings. The Hull Fire, five miles north of Lake Pillsbury on the Upper Lake District first spotted last Wednesday after lightning strikes during thunderstorms. Crews fighting the fire in steep, rugged terrain with ground crews and flyovers. The fire’s burning in timber and reportedly most active in Rattlesnake Creek. It’s 0% contained and reportedly threatening some cabins and other private property. This occurring in the middle of a Red Flag Warning with winds forecasted of up to 40 mph until this evening. The area of Pillsbury Ranch had been warned they may have to evacuate.
A man in Ukiah who police say was driving too fast on the 101 S. near Perkins St. crashes on a right turn at the off ramp. The CHP reports the driver, Dylan Pullins could not keep control of his RAM 3500 and crashed into a tree. He had a passenger in the front seat who became trapped. He’s been identified as Garrett Taylor. The Ram burst into flames and Good Samaritans tried to pry the door open and help him out but he died in the vehicle. The driver, Pullins was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, then arrested for several charges including Felony DUI and Gross Vehicle Manslaughter. He’s held in Mendocino County Jail.
A report of shots fired in Covelo at an apartment complex brings deputies to the scene. They found expended casings on their arrival this weekend. Witnesses say they saw a dark colored pick-up truck leaving the area of the shooting so officers did a canvas of the area and looked at area surveillance footage, but so far have not arrested anyone.
The Lake County Public Health Officer says they’re stopping Verily Testing this week. They’re going to re-evaluate daily. This is due to the high fire danger in the county and poor air quality from smoke. The Clearlake station is closed today. Anyone with an appointment is told to register again online. A reminder that even though the wildfires in the area are at the forefront, COVID-19 is still very active in the area too.
A fire in Sonoma County is rampaging thru homes and buildings. The Walbridge fire has destroyed 560 structures, taking down about 70% of the buildings so far accounted for in lightning strike caused fires in the North Bay. The Press Democrat reports Cal Fire’s first tally of the damage from only one part of the LNU Lightning Complex fires that have ravaged Sonoma, Napa and Solano. So far nearly 350,000 acres have been blackened by the complex and 871 structures destroyed. Another 30,500 are threatened and 5 people have died. This fire has made the Calif. history books already, in one week, the second largest ever. The fire is 22% contained with red flag warnings and dry lightning forecast last night.
The President has signed a major disaster declaration for Calif. Congressman Mike Thompson on the press conference with Cal Fire last night regarding the LNU Complex of fires, the Lake Napa Unit. Lake and Sonoma Counties once again dealing with massive fires. There’s a press conference tonight with Cal Fire and Lake County online, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic at 6 pm.
http://www.facebook.com/lakecountycagov/ (To listen)
https://lakecounty.zoom.us/j/91338634529?pwd=SEdhd0ovNXBSdXo4QnpoQlBPd3cydz09 (To ask questions)
Meeting ID: 913 3863 4529
Passcode: 094776
Representatives of the Red Cross, County Health and Social Services Agencies, Lake County Behavioral Health Services will be on the call.
Another fire joins with the others in the history books, the CZU Lightning Complex in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The fire fighters on the incident report people making it more difficult for them to fight as residents are not listening to evacuation orders and others looting businesses or even stealing from firefighters. 100 officers out patrolling the evacuation zone saying they’ll arrest who isn’t heeding orders. One firefighter had some of his belongings stolen. Fires burning on each side of the San Francisco Bay Area since more than 11,000 lightning strikes a week ago.
A bright spot in otherwise dismal news when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic. State and federal scientists say they expect a peak in Chinook Salmon next month. They had forecasted more than 473,000 adult salmon in the Sacramento River system, nearly 100,000 more than last year thru the so-called Salmon Highway. That moves along the Marin Coast. Scientists say there could even be a Salmon traffic jam over the next month. The season had been delayed because of the pandemic, fishing closed from April to June.
The Mendocino County Health Office reported 2 more deaths since last week. The report on Friday brings the total to 16 people dying from Covid-19 in the county. There were five deaths last week alone, 4 of them were in the hospital, one at the Sherwood Oaks skilled nursing facility. Health Officer, Dr. Doohan says the county’s had 85 cases per 100,000 cases as of late, which is getting close to the 200 case threshold for when schools cannot allow waivers for reopening. It’s also a lot higher than the 25 cases per 100,000 allowed for two weeks for a county to be removed from the state’s watchlist. The county is sending in 10 school waivers to the state. The health officer has lifted lodging restrictions for fire evacuees and says the outbreak at the Sherwood Oaks facility has been contained.
Dr. Doohan says the county is still seeing cases rise and no flattening of the curve. As of Friday there were still 106 active cases including 6 people in the hospital, but none are in an ICU. On Saturday the health office reported 19 more cases and Sunday another five for a total of 629 cases. 507 people are considered released from isolation, or no longer infected. That number does not reflect the 16 deaths in the county.
After a murder investigation in Covelo, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s office reports it was at a large illegal marijuana grow. The Sheriff’sMarijuana Enforcement Team pulled more than 2,100 actively growing marijuana plants the night of the murder. They say there were growing marijuana plants, two plastic style hoop houses with processed marijuana that had two thousand pounds of hanging/drying marijuana “bud”. Deputies came back after the initial investigation, due to safety concerns and a limited amount of officers due to the fires in the area. They returned again last Wednesday and pulled another 4,721 marijuana plants.
Infighting in the Democratic party at the state capitol. Lawmakers in their final week of this session on family leave. One senator from Santa Barbara has reportedly been trying to expand family leave benefits. Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson’s bill is supported by the Governor, apparently, he negotiated in June on the idea. Her bill guaranteeing more time off for family leave for businesses with more than five employees. But others in her party say during a pandemic, is not the right time. In July there was a debate on the bill between moderate and progressive Democrats, but it passed, barely.
A domestic violence shelter in Mendocino County says they’ve continued to offer services during the pandemic, remotely. The Daily Journal reports Shelter In Place, Project Sanctuary is trying to work within the limits of face to face services, utilizing telephones for confidential work and HIPAA compliant video counseling, in English and Spanish. They have an emergency shelter, can help with restraining order preparation, court advocacy, sexual assault response, and have a 24/7 crisis and support line, all for free. Their outreach coordinator says there’s been a rise in domestic abuse reports across the world during the pandemic. They say their advocates are available 24/7: (707) 463-4357 for the Inland Crisis and Support Line or (707) 964-4357 for the Coast Crisis and Support Line.
The south boat ramp at Lake Mendocino has been closed due to low water levels. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers closed the ramp for the rest of the summer as of last week. A week before that the also closed the north boat ramp so this means nothing you can’t carry yourself onto the water can be in the water. The Mendocino Voice newspaper reports this hasn’t happened for six years, since the summer of 2014 and that the Army Corps and Lake Mendocino officials were trying to keep the ramps open until Labor Day, but that was not to be. It comes at a time that water management strategies are being tested at the Lake by researchers from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at UC San Diego.
A couple of men in an ongoing dispute shot on the Round Valley Indian Tribes Reservation. The Mendocino County Sheriff says the non-life threatening injuries last week due to “some beef going on and there’s not a lot of cooperation with law enforcement.” After the shots fired report Round Valley Tribal Police and Mendocino deputies responded with the sheriff who was there already on unrelated business. Officers say the went into a home and found the victims who were shot in the legs. Sheriff Kendall says they were in their early 20s or late teens and were Native American. He says two other young men at the scene, not person’s of interest gave conflicting reports than the victims, as to what had happened.
As fires continue to burn across the state, more than 14,000 firefighters work more than 24 major fires and lightning complexes. Concern about the weather turning into more lightning across the state last night turned out to be true even though weather conditions were more favorable. Firefighters were monitoring in case there was more lightning after more than 11,000 a week ago. Since a week ago, more than 625 more fires have started and charred more than 1.2 million acres. Cal Fire reports at least seven people have been killed and more than 1,200 structures destroyed. The agency reports there are already 2,700 more wildfires this year than there were all of last year. A Red Flag Warning issued by the National Weather Service was canceled earlier today.
Cal Fire has briefed the public on the LNU Complex of fires which started last weekend in dry lightning. The fire has burned over 350,000 acres across Napa, Sonoma, Lake, Solano and Yolo counties. The unit chief Shana Jones says the fire’s going to take some time to put out and firefighters appreciate everyone’s patience… Jones says the incident is number one priority for the state. The National Guard and U.S. military have sent help to Northern California due to staffing shortages on fire lines.
After the Mendocino County Public Health Officer announced the outbreak of Covid-19 at the Sherwood Oaks skilled nursing facility in Fort Bragg had been contained, word now that another resident has tested positive. The positive test after last Monday’s testing and the results this weekend. The elderly resident is asymptomatic and were reportedly exposed three weeks ago. A test two weeks ago came back negative though. The resident is isolating at the facility and is expected to have a full recovery after 8 other residents died and 16 other staff and residents have recovered. Staff are being tested every week with no positive tests in more than 4 weeks.
